


Not Bad for the End of the World

by alexcat



Series: Two Guys From Brooklyn [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 03:45:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18189347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Steve visits the newly restored Bucky in Wakanda.





	Not Bad for the End of the World

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last part of this one. I hope you enjoyed it.

“It’s time for a few days in Wakanda,” Natasha told him.

“Why do you say that?” Steve asked her with an edge to his voice. 

“You need to go see Barnes,” Sam told him. “You get grouchy as hell when you’re away from him too long. I don’t why you can make do with your hand like the rest of us.” 

Natasha bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. Somehow she couldn’t imagine Steve jerking off. He was too – righteous for that. 

He whirled at her. “Don’t you laugh!”

“Sorry, Cap. But you are a grump.”

“Fine, we’ll go to Wakanda, get my damned pole greased.” 

Natasha almost choked on her laugh. “I’m pretty sure Bucky is the one with the greased pole, but okay. Have it your way.” 

Steve bit the inside of his lip. He had to admit that he was cranky lately. He did need to see Bucky. Seeing Bucky always helped. He didn’t tell them he hadn’t touched Bucky since WWII. 

Going to Wakanda was actually a treat for them all. They didn’t have to hide or worry about staying in the shadows the way they did everywhere else. Natasha had made friends with Okoye and the two of them sparred quite often. She even trained sometimes with the Dora Milaje. T’Challa’s mother had taken quite a shine to Sam and he spent time with her, despite the JLo jokes about their age difference. He had no idea why she liked him so much, but she reminded him of his own mother, who he seldom communicated with now, more for her safety than his. 

Steve, of course, headed for Bucky’s hut every time they landed in Wakanda. 

This trip was no different. 

Bucky was sitting outside the hut when Steve walked up. He was dressed in simple clothes, soft cotton pants and shirt. His missing arm was uncovered and unadorned with the metal arm that made him a weapon. He was just Bucky Barnes.

Finally. 

“Hiya, Steve.” Bucky stood and hugged Steve. “Good to see you. Come to visit the goats?” 

“Nope. Came to visit my best -” He almost said guy, but he wasn’t sure Bucky remembered they’d been lovers so long ago. “- pal.” 

“Does that mean I have to cook?” 

“Not unless you want to. I can eat anything.”

“I have some chicken and rice. T’Challa’s sister and mother have helped me learn to cook. Tell me how you’re doing, Steve.” 

Steve told him about some of the missions they’d been on since the last visit a few months ago. 

“So Natasha is really a beauty. Are you and her –?” He wiggled his eyebrows. 

Maybe he didn’t remember. 

“Oh, no. She’d probably gut me if I made a move on her.” 

“How about the girl in the airport?” Bucky remembered him kissing Sharon when she’d brought him his shield. 

“I don’t want to make her lose her job or get in trouble. I send her a message now and again. How about you? Found a warrior queen to beat you up?” 

“Nope. None of them want a one-armed hermit who smells like a goat. Despite my obvious appeal, women don’t seem turned on by goats.” 

Steve laughed. “Well, there is that smell.” 

About that time, a baby goat bounded up onto the porch and hopped up into Bucky’s lap. 

“Steve, this is PeeWee. He’s my best friend.” The little goat butted his head against his cheek then hopped down and ran to Steve, stopping so fast that he slid into Steve’s legs. When Steve reached to pet him, he skittered back to Bucky. 

“He’s a one man goat, I’m afraid.” Bucky was laughing hard, something Steve hadn’t seen since he left for WWII. “He’s probably jealous.” He rubbed the little goat’s head again. 

“Are you happy here, Buck?” Steve looked out over green hills dappled with what was left of the day’s light. 

“I am me mostly now. I don’t think there is much of the Winter Soldier left. So yeah, I’m okay.”

“Do you have your memories back?” He wanted so, so badly to ask if Bucky remembered how much they’d loved one another. 

“I think I have most of them.” 

The little goat leaped to the floor and made another run at Steve, crashing into his legs again. Steve helped him stand and got kicked for his trouble. “Your buddy is a fierce little shit.” 

“I like fierce little shits,” Bucky answered with a grin. “I always did.” 

Steve wanted to ask him again, but didn’t. 

After the sun set, they took PeeWee back to his mother. She gave Steve an evil look before turning tail and following PeeWee away. Bucky threw his arm around Steve’s shoulder as they walked back to his hut. For one moment, Steve wished he never had to leave there.

Back at the hut, Bucky warmed food and poured cold goat’s milk for them to drink. They had a chicken and rice dish with hot peppers that made Steve’s face turn a nice, bright red. 

“Drink the milk. It’ll help!” Bucky was laughing hard as he said it. 

Steve obeyed and finally was able to talk again. “Geez, you coulda warned me you were trying to make me ignite!” 

“I forgot you were so damned delicate!” He was still laughing. 

After dinner, Steve said, “I guess I should head back into the city.”

“Nope. You’re staying here with me.” 

“You don’t have room for me.” 

“I got a bed. We can sleep together. It’s not like we haven’t before.” Steve wanted to ask him if he remembered _what else_ they’d shared. 

They talked far into the night, about Brooklyn, their childhood. Steve talked about the things he, Sam and Natasha were doing now that the Avengers were no more.

“Do you miss it? The team?” Bucky asked. “I – the me from then, I ruined it.”

“No, you didn’t. You were not to blame for the Starks, and me and Tony, well, it was a long time coming. It was inevitable.”

“Steve, understand that I am responsible. I did the things. I own them. But I am different now. Shuri says what she did was kind of like rebooting me, like a computer. I’m set back at my factory settings. The Winter Soldier is gone. I’m me, a really old man with one arm.”

“Do you remember everything?” 

Bucky stood up and reached for his hand. “Do you mean do I remember that I love you?”

Steve stood and simply nodded, not daring to look at Bucky for fear that he couldn’t keep it together and that he’d cry. 

“Oh, yes. I do remember. All of it, the first time in your art class room. The stolen moments in Peggy’s quarters. All of them. I was beginning to think you might not remember them.” 

Steve pulled him into his arms. “I love you so much. I thought I’d lost you forever. So many times.” 

Bucky kissed Steve’s cheek above his beard, then his mouth. “I love you, too, little Stevie. Come on.” He led Steve to the bed and they lay down. 

They didn’t undress as they held one another, much like they had on cold winter nights when Steve was an orphan boy without enough money for coal. Steve knew it had only been a few years for him, since he was frozen for so long but what about Bucky? 

“Does it seem like a long time since the war?” he asked. 

“Yes and no. I didn’t know who I was most of the time, so in some ways, it’s like I just woke up.”

“Do you remember the things you did?” 

Bucky didn’t speak, but Steve saw him nod in the dim light.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as he kissed Bucky’s forehead. 

Bucky pulled back and looked him in the face. “Not your fault. You’re here now and so am I. That’s all that matters.” 

They kissed and the feelings flooded Steve. This was Bucky, the love of his life and here he was, in his bed and in his arms at last. He felt inexplicably shy all of a sudden. 

Bucky seemed to sense it. “Sort of like it’s the first time for us, isn’t it?” 

“I don’t quite know why, but yeah, it does. I’m nervous as hell.”

“Did you, you haven’t been alone all this time, have you?” Bucky asked, smoothing Steve’s long hair back from his face with his one hand. 

“There was no one like you. Sharon and I – we had a few dates. And, uh -” He suddenly didn’t know what to say about the next one. _He_ had been important, more than a friend and his loss still hurt still, but it had nothing to do with his love for Bucky. Hell, they’d never done more than share a few kisses. 

“Stark. It was Stark.” Bucky had known all this time. It had been so obvious to him, even in Berlin and Siberia. 

“Yeah, we never got along, but we had something anyway.” 

Bucky kissed him, then pulled back to look at him. “It’s all right, Steve. Never feel bad about love.” 

He kissed him again, this time there was no more talking as they began to pull at one another’s clothing until they were lying naked in one another’s embrace. Steve groaned and sighed as Bucky touched him. Things heated up quickly and Steve helped Bucky prepare him.

“One-handed guy needs a little help sometimes,” Bucky had said as he handed Steve a little jar of petroleum jelly much like the one they’d had a lifetime ago in Peggy’s quarters. 

Bucky lay behind Steve with his whole arm around him, slipping inside slowly, gently. Steve tried to hold back his moans as Bucky wrapped his hand around him and began to move at the same time. Bucky whispered sweet love words against ear as they both found the sweet release they’d longed for. 

*

It had been several months since they’d visited Wakanda when the call came in from Bruce on Tony’s phone. 

As bad as it was, seeing Bucky dressed for battle with a prosthetic arm made Steve’s heart pound. “How you been, Buck?” he asked as they embraced. 

“Ah, not bad for the end of the world,” Bucky answered with that smile of his. 

A day later, Steve knew what the end of the world really was. He swore he’d bring Bucky back if it was the last thing he ever did.


End file.
